How to Be a Growing Christian | Part 1

... Pastor, teacher, and author, Adrian Rogers, who once said, when we spend time with someone, we become like that someone. You know, a growing Christian is a maturing Christian, because spiritual maturity is becoming more like Jesus.

In 1 John 2, the Apostle John compares spiritual maturity to three stages in our physical lives. If you have your Bible, turn there now. We'll begin in verse 12, as Adrian Rogers reveals how to be a growing Christian.

Let me ask you a frank and a personal question. Are you a growing Christian? I didn't ask if you are a Christian. I ask, are you a growing Christian? Are you moving toward maturity?

You can be young only once, but you can be immature for a long, long time. And the problem in many of our churches is that we have people who have been born, but they cease to grow. So, we want to talk to you a little bit about how to be a growing Christian, because fellowship in churches comes about when we grow. Now, look in verse 12. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, underscore the word fathers, because you have known him, that is, from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, underscore the phrase young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because you've known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because you have known him, that is, from the beginning.

I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Now, he mentions three categories of persons, children, young men, and fathers. And what he's talking about here is growing into maturity, coming from children to fatherhood. Now, what are the marks of maturity? Well, you say spiritual health is a mark of maturity.

Not necessarily. A five-year-old can be perfectly healthy. He's not mature. So you can have spiritual health and not be mature. Well, you say having spiritual gifts, that's a mark of maturity.

Oh, no. You can be greatly gifted and not be mature. Samson was a man that had great gifts, but he was so immature. Paul had to talk to the Corinthian church. He said to the Corinthian church, you come behind in no gift. But he said, I cannot speak unto you as spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. Now, we're talking now about not even spirituality.

You can be instantly spiritual. I mean, you can get your heart right with God this morning and be filled with the Holy Spirit, be as clean as a driven snow, but that does not mean that you are a mature Christian. We're talking about going on to maturity. What is maturity? Maturity is Christ-likeness. Put this verse in your margin. Ephesians 4, verse 13, Paul says, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man. And the word perfect here does not mean sinless.

It means mature. Unto a mature man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Now, you know how I measure my ministry?

Not the size of the buildings or the love offering or the Sunday school attendance. Are you becoming more and more like Jesus? Are you becoming more and more like Jesus? That was the goal of Paul's ministry. Put this verse down, Colossians 1 and verse 28.

Paul says, whom we preach, that is Jesus, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. And again, the word perfect means mature. Now, maturity is a lifelong process. Folks, it's not a 100-yard dash.

It is a marathon. Nobody is instantly mature. A wise man has said, if you want to grow a squash, you can do that in 40 days.

If you want to grow an oak, you do that in 40 years. You can be instantly spiritual. You can be gifted.

You can be healthy. But you cannot be mature. So I'm trying to teach you now how to move into maturity, to go from childhood to adolescence to fatherhood. That's what John is talking about. Now, first of all, he talks about the childhood stage.

Look, if you will, in verse 12. I write unto you, little children. Now write this down, the thrilling wonders of childhood, the thrilling wonders of childhood.

Oh, it's so wonderful. Little babies are so wonderful. We love little babies. Our church loves little babies.

The joys, the thrills, the excitement when God brings a baby into home. But now let me tell you something, folks. I've been doing a survey of little children. By the way, I am a bona fide grandfather. And you learn things by being a grandfather that you don't learn by being a father. Because when you're a grandfather, you can back yourself out and study a little bit, and you can watch. And do you know what? I have learned through my very scientific study as a bona fide grandfather, through my humble but accurate opinion. Let me tell you.

Let me tell you about little children, these wonderful little children. They're selfish. The most selfish creatures on earth is a baby.

I mean, every movement is this way. You take something away from him, and he'll go into rage. Not only are they selfish, but they're crude and rude. They will burp in your face and think nothing of it.

And I'll tell you something else about them. They're lazy. They just lie around the house. They don't do anything. They don't help cook. They don't help clean.

They don't bring anything in. They are lazy and unproductive. These precious little children. I'll tell you something else about them. They are totally inconsiderate. They'll wake you up in the middle of the night.

And I'm going to tell you something else about it. You won't agree with this, but they're mean. They're mean.

We've got our little grandsons together. I mean, they had not been on the floor for 30 seconds before Stephen Paul moved over and bit Andrew. I mean, good.

Took a chunk out of Andrew. Mean. Mean. Little kids.

We think about these sweet little darlings. I'm telling you, friend, they're selfish. They're rude. They're inconsiderate. They're lazy.

They're unproductive and sometimes mean. If you look at a little child like that and you say, hey, if that's a human being, I don't want to be one. Have you ever heard anybody say, if that's a Christian, I don't want to be one? They look at a little baby Christian. You know, thank God for little baby Christians. But little baby Christians have to grow up. And when you get saved, nobody is saved, full grown. And I don't care what age you are, when you get saved, you are a babe in Christ. And John is writing to some, and he calls them little children. Now, thank God for little children. Thank God for people like this, folks.

I mean, I'm grateful for this. But don't find some baby in our church and say, well, now, if that's what being a Christian is, I don't want to be a Christian. Well, that's a baby Christian.

They have to grow up. And, you know, I used to think that a great church was a church where everybody was a mature Christian. That's not a great church. That's a failing church. That would be like saying a great home is a home where they're all adults and there are no children and no grandchildren. See, that's not a great home.

That's not a great home. Thank God for the spilled milk. Thank God for the dirty diapers. Thank God for the Cheerios on the floor. Thank God for, listen, all of that comes with it. And we need to make these baby Christians who come to Jesus feel at home. We need to love them. And our church is, in one sense, a maternity ward.

Now, the problem, the problem is some stay in the maternity ward far too long when you are a great, big baby still on the bottle, still sucking your thumb, not growing, not serving, not working, having to be served and still selfish and still rude and still crude and still lazy and still unthoughtful. May God have mercy upon you. You're to grow. There is a legitimate childhood. You know, Paul said to the Corinthian Christians, you come behind and no gift, but I couldn't speak unto you as a spiritual, but as unto carnally, even as the babes in Christ. They were using spiritual gifts as toys, not tools.

They didn't understand what it means to be spiritual in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, the very first thing I want you to see is what I call the thrilling wonders of childhood. What's the main thing about a new Christian?

What does he think about? Look, if you will, in verse 12. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. That's the blessing of getting saved. Thank God my sins are forgiven.

I'm on my way to heaven. That's the main thing that a little child is concerned about, getting to heaven. And when a little child gives his testimony, by and large, he'll go all the way back.

It's about the only testimony he has about how he got saved and how his sins are forgiven, and that is wonderful. Now, here's the second stage. The first stage is the thrilling wonders of childhood. Second stage, the triumphant warfare of manhood. Look, if you will, now in verse 13. He says, I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one.

Look in the last part of verse 14. I have written unto you, young men, because you're strong, and the Word of God abideth in you, no longer milk bottles, but mighty battles. These have moved to become workers and warriors. I wonder, are you a worker? Are you a warrior? Are you no longer being served? But are you a servant?

I mean, many are still being served. You don't do one blessed thing. Folks, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but you come up and sit here on Sunday morning and think you've done God a wild favor.

I mean, if the ongoing of this church depended upon you, folks, it'd be sad around here for many folks. I mean, you're saved, but you're not a worker. You're not a warrior.

You're not in the battle. You have simply gotten saved and said, hallelujah, thank God my sins are forgiven, and there you have stopped. When you really go on, you move to the next stage, and John says the Word of God has made you strong, and you've overcome the wicked one. Well, you say, pastor, I'm not afraid of the devil.

Well, that's not even the question. The question is, is the devil afraid of you? I mean, are you any threat to Satan's kingdom?

Have you, are you overcoming the wicked one? The Bible says, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Do you know what the devil wants? Let me tell you what the devil wants. The devil wants to line up like the Green Bay Packers against a kindergarten.

That's what he wants. And, friend, in the average church, that's what happens. He calls the play, and right up the middle they go because what you've got out here is a lot of little kindergartners. They're not strong. They don't know anything about the battle, and Satan is having his way because he is fighting against an army of children.

Young men are strong. They've overcome the wicked one. Are you a victor or a victim? Are you an overcomer or overcome? Are you strong? Does the Word of God abide in you?

Can you honestly, literally say that you're an overcomer? If not, you've been saved for a while, shame on you. If you're a little baby, yes, welcome into the nursery. But this delayed growth is a shame to Almighty God. Now, here's the third stage.

Watch it. First of all, there's the thrilling wonders of childhood. Secondly, the triumphant warfare of manhood. Thirdly, the tested wisdom of fatherhood, of fatherhood, because here's where the Lord is moving us to. Look in verse 13. I write unto you, fathers, because you've known him from the beginning. Verse 14, again, I have written unto you, fathers, because you have known him.

The idea of a father is a person who has come to mature wisdom. He knows. He understands. He has even moved beyond building and battling. He has this wisdom. He has this God-likeness. He has been with the Lord so long that his life is beginning to manifest the likeness of God. He is God-like. He has become a father.

We speak of God as a father, our father. And by the way, he's not talking here about chronological age. He's not talking here about gender.

This is only an illustration. If you're a woman, this applies to you. If you're a young person, this applies to you. I mean, you can be a spiritual father and be a teenager. What he's talking about here is spiritual maturity.

And so the thrilling one is of childhood. There's the triumphant warfare of manhood, but there is the tested wisdom of fatherhood. You see, a father is somebody who has children.

Have you reproduced? Do you have any spiritual children? Paul talked of Timothy as his son in the faith. He said to the church at Corinth, he said, I'm your spiritual father. You know, I am a physical father, but I thank God that God has given me the privilege of being a spiritual father.

Did you know what? I have a lot of spiritual children. I have some grandchildren. I have some great grandchildren, spiritual, people that I've won to Jesus, who've won people to Jesus, who've won people to Jesus. Are you going to go to heaven empty-handed?

Are there going to be any children there? I'm talking about spiritual children. When you come to the throne, when you stand at Jesus' feet, when you say, Father, this is my spiritual family because I have become like you. I have become a father. You see, a father is known for his wisdom. A father is known for his ability to give. I hope you will move into the father stage. Do you know one of the great joys of my life, this stage of life, is to give to my children and to my grandchildren?

That is one of the greatest joys of my life. And when you become a father in the Lord, you're going to want to give to the spiritual children these little babes to help them to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to listen very, very carefully. God is not trying to say that you substitute fatherhood for manhood or that you substitute manhood for childlikeness. No, a father is a composite of all of these things. Never lose the wonder of childhood. Now, the Bible says put away childish things, but the Bible says still be childlike.

You know, a child has that wonder, that sweetness. Keep that in you. Keep the wonder. Keep the excitement.

Keep the joy. Remember when your sins were forgiven you. Never forget it. Never forget it. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you.

Thank God for that. I write unto you, young men, because you're strong and the word of God abides in you and you've overcome the wicked one. When you get to be a father, you don't cease in the battle. You don't lose the wonder.

You don't step out of the warfare. You just add all these things to it until you become a full-grown man, and that's the reason. A person who is really mature in the Lord, did you know that little children enjoy these kind of people? Because they themselves still have the childhood. They've never lost the wonder. Did you know there ought to be a little boy in every man, a little girl in every woman who's full-grown?

Still love to laugh, to play, to have the good times, and I don't care who you are. There ought to be that manhood. You ought to stay in the battle.

You ought to stay in the warfare. The word of God ought to be in you. You just simply add all these things together until you become a full-orbed individual, what the Bible calls a father, and then you are at home in any crowd with little children. You know little children love Jesus.

They'd come sit in his lap. And the older men, the apostle John, when he was old, he loved to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so what we're talking here about is growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.

Now let me tell you folks, well, let me ask you an obvious question. Who wrote this book of 1 John? John wrote this. And if you say, oh, dear, sweet, old John, the beloved disciple. You know, when we think of John, don't you have just sort of a nice idea of John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who wrote about love and told his loved one, I want to tell you, friend, if you'd have been around John when he was a young man, you would not have wanted to be around John. Let me tell you what John was like. Do you want to know what John was like by nature? Do you know what his nickname was?

Son of thunder. That was his nickname. He had a hair trigger. Do you know what he was by his natural disposition?

Selfish as all get out. James and John came to Jesus and said, Lord, when you come into your kingdom, Lord, I'd like to sit on your right hand and my brother over here wants to sit on your left hand. That's what he said. When they were there going through Samaria and the Samaritans would not receive them, you know what John said? He said, Lord, you want us to call down some fire from heaven? Lord, a little heavenly napalm, that'll fix these folks here. God, let's nuke them till they glow and then we can shoot them in the dark.

Lord, oh God, let's get them. Jesus had to say, John, you don't know what spirit you're of. I mean, don't get the idea that John was Mr. Nice Guy. John was not Mr. Nice Guy when Jesus got hold of him. But he grew in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You see him later on, he's called Beloved Apostle. You see him later on when he went to Samaria, he was the one that led that revival there, wasn't consuming fire but Holy Ghost fire that he brought down upon them the second time when he came. He was the one who wasn't trying to be first, but he was the one who taught us to love one another. You see, what John is talking about now, the Apostle John, he has experienced, he has grown in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and that means if there was hope for old John, there's hope for you, you can grow.

Now, I want to ask you another question. I didn't ask are you saved. Are you a growing Christian? I mean, listen, to fail to grow is a sin.

If you don't love Jesus Christ more today than you did yesterday, you're backslidden. You need to be growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, how are you going to grow? How are you going to grow?

What are the means of growth? Because a growing church is a healthy and a happy church. That's where the fellowship is sweet. Well, number one, there must be the miracle of life.

There must be the miracle of life. Now, he calls them little children in verse 12. Actually, he uses two words for little children in this same passage of scripture.

He uses one word that just simply means born ones, and then he uses another word which means children under discipline, technia and pedia. You've got to be a born one. I mean, you cannot grow up and then get born. Have you ever talked to somebody and you try to lead them to Christ and they say, well, I've got some things in my life I need to straighten out, and when I get all that done, then I'll become a Christian. Pardon me, but that's not very bright. That's like saying I'm going to grow up and then I'll get born.

No. You see, it is birth that precedes growth. When we were here many, many, many years ago in the old church building downtown, I had all the boys and girls. I was trying to teach a lesson on growth, and so we got some little potted plants, and we gave them different Sunday school classes, and we told one, give this plant water, sunlight, and fertilizer. And we told others, give this plant water and fertilizer but no sunlight. Another one, give this sunlight but no water and fertilizer until we had all of the different combinations that you could get. And some plants were growing like this, and some were like this, and some were kind of like this. And then we gave the kids a stick, just a plain wooden stick in a pot, and we said to them, give it light, give it water, and give it fertilizer. And so the kids would bring their different plants Sunday morning.

But you know what? Those kids that had a stick, their stick never grew at all. It just wouldn't grow because the stick had no life. Now, don't try to grow up before you get born. Give your heart to Jesus Christ, and first of all, there has to be. You have to be born from above in order to grow. Are you saved?

I mean, do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you have that life in you? First thing, growth requires the miracle of life. Second thing, growth requires the passage of time. You will not be instantly mature. There are no shortcuts. There is no instant maturity.

And just keep plodding along, and you will find out that you will grow. Coming up tomorrow on the broadcast, you'll hear part two of this important lesson, but maybe today you have questions about who Jesus is, what he means to you, how to begin a relationship with God through Christ. Go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio.

You'll find resources and materials there that can answer questions you may have about your faith. Again, lwf.org slash radio, and click Discover Jesus. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD, and mention the title, How to Be a Growing Christian. This message is also part of the insightful series, Sweetest Fellowship This Side of Heaven. With the complete collection, all 11 powerful messages, call that number, 877-LOVEGOD, or go online to lwf.org slash radio, or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183.

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